Hello and welcome to the History of Japan podcast, Episode 54, The Great Change.

This week, I want to talk about an event that tends not to get discussed too much outside

of expert circles on early Japanese history, but which, to my mind, did a lot to set the tone

of Japanese government. Now, I should emphasize the phrase to my mind, because the interpretation I'm about to give you

is very different from the one you'd get from a historian of early Japan.

Historians, you see, are, as a group, generally pretty good at pointing out differences

between events, but we're not generally pretty good at pointing out differences between events,

but we're not always that great at drawing parallels and continuities.

That, however, is to my mind the far more interesting job.

You see, almost everyone with even passing familiarity with Japanese history has heard of the Meiji Restoration,

those heady days of the latter 19th century, when Japan's leaders reworked their nation from

the ground up, using a cultural model borrowed from the West, gripped with the conviction that

anything less would result in the nation's destruction. They did whatever they felt was necessary to ensure Japan's security and survival.

It makes for an absolutely fabulous story,

but as with so many others we tell ourselves nowadays, it is basically a remake.

You see, Japan had already gone through one total reworking of its society

in response to an external threat, some 1,200 years before Commodore Perry ever set sail into Edo.

This week, we're going to be talking about the legacy of that first mass reworking of Japanese culture.

It goes by a few names but is best known as the Taika, the great change.

Before we do, however, we have to set the stage.

Let's talk about what Japan looked like in the 600's CE.

In the year 600, Japan had attained an impressive degree of unity. The kingdom of Yamato, founded in the region of Japan that goes by that

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